Machine fob making woodenware



NUNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIcE.

ANSEL HOWARD, JR., OF READSBORO, VERMONT.

MACHINE FOR MAKING WOODENWARE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 27,803, dated April 10, 1860.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANSEL HOWARD, Jr.,

of Readsboro, in the county of Bennington and State of Vermont, have invented a new and useful Machine for Manufacturing lVooden Dishes or @hopping-Trays; and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying` drawings, of which- Figure l, is a top view. Fig. 2, a front elevation, and Fig. 3, a longitudinal section of such machine. Fig. et, is a transverse section taken through the mechanism for shaping the external surface of'a tray.

In these drawings, A, denotes the main frame of the` machine, there being within such frame another frame B, which is so supported between vertical guides as to be capable of being moved either upward or downward, such frame B, being balanced by a weight, C, whose cords of suspension pass around pulleys afranged at the upper part of the frame A.

At the lower part of the frame A, are two parallel and transverse ways or rails, D, D, which serve to support a carriage, E, to which a block of wood to be operated on is to be fastened by suitable appliances and to be held by such while being reduced by the rotary cutters of the machine. Furthermore, the transverse movements of the saidcarriage, E, may be effected by means. of a toothed rack a, applied to one side of it, and actuated by a pinion b, fixed on an upright shaft c, that by means of two gears, e, f, receives motion from a cranked shaft, (Z. On laying hold of the crank, g, of the shaft, d, and revolving it, the carriage, E, may be put in movement either forward or backward, transversely underneath the cutters which are directly over it. These cutters are fixed in one rounded wheel or in two tapering cutter stocks, F, G which rae fastened to opposite ends of a pulley, H, and have the journals of their shaft supported by a frame I, that is suspended from a horizontal shaft, K. The said shaft, K, is supported by the frame, B, and so as not only to be capable of being revolved freely thereon but of being moved or slid longitudinally from either one of two curved guides L, L, to the other as circumstances may require. Each of the said guides is supported by a sliding or adjustable frame M, so applied to the frame, A, as to enable the guides L, L, to be adjusted with respect to their distance as under and also with respecto the carriage, E. The shaft, K, should not only be capable of r0- tating in the frame, L, but should have collars, i, z', applied to it as shown in the drawings, the same being to cause the frame, I, to move endwise with the shaft while the latter is beingmoved longitudinally in order to carry the rotary cutters across a block of wood in lateral directions of it.

The endwise movements of the shaft, K, are produced by means of a hand lever, N, suitably applied to the shaft and having its fulcrum at,O, as shown in the drawings.

A driving shaft, P, carrying a driving pulley, Q, and another pulley R, is placed at the upper part of the frame, A, and should receive motion from an endless belt carried about the pulley, Q. Another endless belt should also be carried around the pulley, R, and a pulley, S, affixed on the shaft, K. Furthermore, a third endless belt should pass around the cutter stock pulley H, and a pulley, U, carried by the shaft, K. The vertical motion of the frame, B, may be eected by turning a crank, 7c, carried by a shaft, Z, (see Figs. l, and 2). A pinion, m, on the said shaft, Z, engages with a gear, n, aflixed on a horizontal shaft, .0, supported by the frame, A. Two pinions, p, p, carried by the shaft o, engage with two racks, g, g, fastened to the frame, B, the whole servingto enable the vertical movements of the frame, A, to be controlled or effected by a workmans hand applied to the crank 7c.

The above constitutes machinery for hollowing out a block of wood or forming the hollow or concave part of trays. The mechanism for rounding or shaping the outside of it may be thus described. From the lower part of the frame A, two inclined posts, V, V, project as shown in the drawings, the upper part of each of such posts being curved and furnished on its inner surface with a crescent shaped groove 1, see Fig. 4. Within such crescent shaped groove, r, there is a curved switch, s, having the form with respect to that of the said groove, as shown in Fig. 4. The grooves, r, are to respectively receive two ears, t, t, of a plane or shave, IV, connected with a vibratory lever, X, by two curved arms, u, u, whose lowerends are jointed to the front end of the said lever. The rear end of the lever is jointed to a connecting rod, Y, whose upper end receives a crank pin, fv, extended from one side of the pulley R, the whole being so as to cause the plane or shave, WV, during each revolution of the shaft, P, to have reciprocating movements in two curved paths, one of which is under the switches while the other is over them. Each switch is a curved lever whose fulcrum pin y, extends through its post, V, and is attached to a helical spring, e, so applied to it and the post as to cause the lower arm of the switch to be pressed toward the front side of its crescent shaped groove These two switches are thus self-acting and should operate with their grooves in such manner as to cause the ears of the plane stock while it is passing downward to move in front of the switches and while ascending to pass in rear of them, and so as to carry the plane away from the block of wood during each upward movement of the said plane and in contact with it during each downward movement of the plane.

If we suppose the tray to be produced from the block `is to have a flat bottom of an elliptical or a rect-angular shape and its sides and its ends to be rounded olf from such bottom to the upper edge of the tray, the purpose of the plane is to produce this shaping of the sides and ends of the block. It will accomplish this, provided the block after having been hollowed out by the rotary cutters is placed on a suitable bench or support and borne up against the plane and turned around as occasion may require for the plane to reduce it to the necessary shape.

In the process of hollowing out the block while it is supported by the carriage, E, the frame, B, is lirst lowered so as to carry the rotary cutters into contact with the block, the depression of the said frame bein continued as circumstances may require, uring the operation of hollowing the block. The

.as to cut the block in longitudinal directions.

During the said process of hollowing the block its carriage or holder, E,`from time to time is to be moved longitudinally in order to cause the block to be hollowed from end to end. Thus a movable carriage operated as described is necessary to the perfection of my machine, although it would be possible to dispense with it and to support the block by other means so as to enable it to be moved longitudinally by the hand of the workman. By such mechanism, hollow elongated dishes or trays can be made with great facility from blocks of wood.

In the above described machine I claim- 1. The arrangement and combination of the two curved guides, L, L, and a shaft, K, applied as described to a vertically moving frame supporting cutters applied to it substantially as specified.

2. I also claim the mechanism for rounding the external surface of the block or tray, or preparing such with a liat bottom, and round sidesy and ends, the said mechanism consisting of the plane, the curved guide grooves and switches arranged so as to operate substantially as specified.

ANsEL HOWARD, JR.

Witnesses:

WV. H. LALLE'r'r, DAVID GooDELL. 

